Sierra Opener?

Is it to soon to talk about the Sierra opener? I am going to try it with my two young boys and my Dad for the first time this year. I want to try and make it a tradition. Any tips advice or help on a good place to stay would be greatly appreciated.

Is it to soon to talk about the Sierra opener? I am going to try it with my two young boys and my Dad for the first time this year. I want to try and make it a tradition. Any tips advice or help on a good place to stay would be greatly appreciated.

The Sierra Opener will be disappointing to some from the fishing standpoint. Many areas will not be open due to snow or damage from flooding/mudslides and snow. Whitney Portal road is closed till further notice from water low damage and may not be open for the opening of the Golden Trout season. All the creeks will have major flows till late in the summer and could present real dangers to try and wade them. Many of the campgrounds mayl not be open yet. The Owens River is at around 500 CFS and is rising to around 700CFS if not there already. It is flat dangerous to fish with river speeds and temps that do not bode well for survival should you fall in. Very, very tough fishing if at all. Most Alpine lakes will have substantial ice on them which presents a whole new set of issues.

I would start in Lone Pine and call each town's sporting goods store or tackle shop for the current skinny right before you go. You can check with the Inyo national forest in Lone Pine and Bishop for campgrounds and areas they know to be open. The Mill Pond Campground might be stocked by then and they are a nice campground with fun fishing for the kids and central for the Bishop area. It's an Inyo County camp and is reasonable and very clean. Plan on this inaugural of a life time to be one of exploration and seeing where you would go if conditions were different.

Viejo's advice is excellent. I did at least 30+ openers. I might suggest waiting until next year to go with all those special people for the first time. Lotsa beautiful spots what won't be ready for ya. I''ll betcha the June Lake Loop ... along with Mammoth will be frozen over. Could make the other places more crowded. Lot's a mud and melt around ...

It is never too early or too late to talk about the trout opener. With the heavy snowpack fishing options will definitely be reduced this year. I would imagine that will also reduce the size of the crowds. June lake loop always manages to be ice free for the opener. I persobally focus on the Bishop drainage but think the only open water will be Intake II and a small section of creek around Bishop Creek lodge and Four Jefferey Campground. That is purely and educated guess based upon other openers with heavy snowpack.
Convinct Lake is low elevation and will be ice free. Rock Creek will.be snowed in until Memorial Day.
I was thinking about skipping the opener this year but my 5 year old son keeps asking when we are going fishing. He is the reason I will make the costly drive. Memories. Not catching 100 fish on the opener is what matters.

The Owens River is at around 500 CFS and is rising to around 700CFS if not there already. It is flat dangerous to fish with river speeds and temps that do not bode well for survival should you fall in.

713 as we speak. I'm told they're going to hold it to 300 all summer, and possibly start dropping that in the Fall.

you sounded like me 10 yrs ago.. but without Dad. My boys were 3 and 6 yrs old when we started and now the 6 yrs old will soon take the wheels to keep that tradition or religion going.. hopefully even after I'm gone. From my experience, keep studying and learn as much as possible. Gather all the data you could, check up with local news and updates from all sources that you could find, especially before going. Get there, search and conquer, enjoy as much as you can on the surrounding that Mother Natures gives. For sure you will never wanna leave and would always want to come back. Every time is an adventure to never forget and every time it's ever so changing, just as the weather there. Good luck, your on a good start.

We usually do the opener or the week after. We've been trying to pin down our dates for this year and just decided on getting up there (the loop) on the 65th of may. We go back and forth between the hustle and bustle of opener and the relative calm of the week after. Both have their high and low points. We were in bishop the first week of March for our annual kayaking trip on the Owens. The water was way too high and fast for a safe trip so we just fished the res for three days and hit the hot springs in the evening. The res was pretty low and real murky. Fishing was fair for some in my group. Slow for others. We were already aware that the Blake Jones was cancelled so we didn't come back the following weekend like usual. All the webcams ( gull, silver) show open water. Crowley can isn't working and June lake only shows the road. A post I saw on June lake brewery Facebook shows Grant is ice free and 3/4 full. The first week of March when we drove by Crowley it was froze clear over but I suspect that has changed by now. All that being said, June loop is taking a pretty wet storm right now and possibly another one next Friday. I don't expect the lakes to freeze back over but I'm not a local so I don't know for sure. Head up there anyway. Every year is different, which is why I've been going for 26 straight years.

If your camping. Try Grant lake campground or silver.
If getting a cabin, go with big rock as they usually have a deal where you get a small aluminum boat with your stay.
Nice rooms also compared to boulder which is really going downhill as far as upkeep. Both have shore fishing within a short walk for the evening bite.